Juxtaposition (The Poor and the Wealthy)

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: SOCIAL JUSTICE

 

Juxtaposition

 

The Dow soars to an all-time high

While the poor que up in food lines

The needy live in humility

But the wealthy are feeling just fine

 

A sparkling day in the lush green valley

The harvest has turned into wine

Farmworkers are counting their pennies

Rich farmers are doing just fine

 

In a land of great wealth and plenty

It seems futile for me to opine

The homeless are suffering greatly

While the privileged are doing just fine

 

The rich grow richer the poor stay poor

I know it’s a timeless cliché

But the saying never rang truer

Than it rings this cold winter day

 

It’s not just the poor but the workers

Who take any jobs they can find

We make the best of what we have

But the wealthy are doing just fine

 

(Comments welcome!)

 

The Lesson

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

The Lesson

 

A generation of hardship

A generation denied

Living through the virus

Leaves a longing inside

Millions left homeless

Millions have died

Doctors defied and

Leaders who lied

 

It might have been better

It might have been worse

A dangerous virus

Became a human curse

 

We will always remember

The day the world turned

The question now is:

What have we learned?

 

Will we handle it better?

Will we be more prepared?

Will we choose a leader

Who actually cares?

 

Will we pull together

Against a common foe?

Or will we let our differences

Divide and grow?

 

Holiday Lockdown

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

Holiday Lockdown

 

The Black Plague the Spanish Flu

These are the times we’re living through

 

Is it so hard to understand?

There’s a scourge upon the land

 

Should we behave how we desire?

Would we walk into a blazing fire?

 

As the vaccine is being prepared

Let us act as if we cared

 

It’s one more holiday lockdown

Maybe soon we can all go to town

 

To do the things we’ve missed

Kiss all the babes we didn’t kiss

 

Celebrate till the sun goes down

Pass the bottle all around

 

Until then we can wait

This time next year: it’s a date

 

Solidarity (One and All)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR

Solidarity

 

When we march we are one

One cause one movement one mind

There is no space between us

We will not get out of line

 

When we think we are one

Separate independent and apart

We march to the same rhythm

We feel with distinct hearts

 

When it comes to bringing change

Solidarity is an essential thing

But when it comes to free expression

Let us find a voice that sings

 

To the music in our souls

To the thunder in our ears

Let us find the voice that sings

If it takes a thousand years

 

The Virus Marches On

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

March On

 

They denied the truth of science

It was just another flu

When it killed a hundred thousand

They denied that it was true

 

They’re fighting the election now

Some are angry some are stunned

While our hearts are seeking solace

The virus marches on

 

But science is still standing

It will be there when we’re gone

While the president is whining

The virus marches on

 

A bitter winter is upon us

In the silence before the dawn

Huddled masses draw together

As the virus marches on

How I wish that it was over

I have wished it for so long

But our strength is being tested

As the virus marches on

 

 

A Song of Despots: Erdogan (ER DOH WUN)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  WORLD DEMOCRACY

Erdogan (Er doh wun)

 

A man named Erdogan

Happens to be the only one

Allowed a voice in Istanbul

Where dissidents are sent to school

To learn how to think again

To criticize is a deadly sin

Give up you cannot win

 

It is time for Erdogan

To give way to another one

Who believes in self-government

And is sufficiently intelligent

To know that despots cannot last

Your time is coming fast

A truth you soon shall grasp

 

This is my song of despots

Be it ER DOH WUN or ER DOH WAN

Let go of power while you can

Free the people or flee the land

 

The Hong Kong Three

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WORLD DEMOCRACY

 

The Hong Kong Three

 

The spirit of democracy lives on

If not in America then Hong Kong

They arrested the Hong Kong three

For fighting to be free

 

Here we await the next president

There people are imprisoned for dissent

Maybe we’re not so bad after all

Presidents rise and presidents fall

 

We take to the streets and march for a cause

Sometimes we force a change in laws

In Hong Kong democracy hangs by a thread

In America it’s wounded but not yet dead

 

We must support our Hong Kong friends

On this democracy much depends

The people will not yield this fight

For in the end they know they’re right

 

Pardon Me (for Michael Flynn)

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: POETRY OF POLITICS

 

Pardon

 

Pardon me

Did I overstay my welcome?

Was I rude?

Was I too crude?

I am by nature brash

When attacked I tend to lash

But I did not intend

To dip so deep in trash

 

Lock her up! I shouted

But I have always doubted

Myself and all my friends

On this my soul depends

I was in it for the money

And I thought it kind of funny

So I played the cards I had

Intentions? Neither good nor bad

 

My name is Michael Flynn

Wake me up! Did I just win?

Or is it all a dream?

If so what does it mean?

 

Alright okay I lied

I took you for a ride

I served another nation

Who paid for my vacations

To Moscow and Istanbul

 

Pardon me

 

(What did Mike Flynn say

when he coughed? Pardon me.)

 

Vaccine (Beginning the End)

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  CORONAVIRUS SERIES

 

Vaccine (Beginning the End)

 

We have prayed for the day to come

The beginning of the end

A vaccine is just about ready

Despair is on the mend

 

We now hold our collective breaths

And hope that nothing goes wrong

We’ve lived our lives in a bubble

One joyous Christmas too long

 

The moment we’ve been awaiting

Will come knocking any day

Line up and take your medicine

A bright future is on the way

 

It’s an answer to our prayers

Our collective spirits lift

We thank all souls in heaven

For this most precious gift

 

(to the scientists who developed the

Coronavirus vaccines)

Delusions

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  AMERICAN POLITICS

Delusions

 

Delusions of grandeur take on new meaning

With the man in power screaming screaming

I won! I won! When he clearly lost

Democracy may be the cost

For a man who long ago lost touch

(kindness forbids to say how much)

With stern reality on planet earth

An empty vessel is more than he’s worth

 

He believes he can unwind the wind

And with a magic spell begin again

Falling falling to his knees

He summons the gods with his pleas

But his delusion runs too deep

His sanity he cannot keep

He bids farewell his sycophants

And falls back to his twitter rants

 

So long goodbye my president

All my reason is now spent

 

Quarantine the Court

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

Quarantine the Court

 

The high court of the nation

Denies the role of government

In fighting back contagion

For the virus is heaven sent

 

The court decrees you cannot ban

A gathering where many trod

More deadly than we understand

If it invokes the name of god

 

So come ye faithful young and old

Drop thy mask and pull together

Raise up a hallelujah bold

Take shelter from the weather

 

Pack the congregation hall

Sing out to the heavens

Saints and sinners hear the call

Roll out your lucky sevens

 

We dare not question how and why

The justices abandoned reason

We dare not ask how many died

For this judicial treason

 

(The Court overrules New York’s

ban on religious gatherings)

 

El Paso Massacre

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR

 

El Paso Massacre

 

A young white killer

Walks into an El Paso Walmart

Six hundred miles away from home

Opens fire with his semi-automatic

Killing 23 wounding 23 more

Easy as mowing the lawn

 

The killer believed that Mexicans

(and blacks and Jews and others)

Were a part of the Great Replacement

A grand conspiracy to supplant

The pale with darker races

 

He is proof that thoughts combined

With weapons of mass destruction

Have the power to erase many lives

In the time it takes to tip your hat

 

There is no Great Replacement

There is no white genocide

But there is pathological insanity

Born of ignorance fear and prejudice

The world is changing faster

Than enfeebled minds can grasp

 

There is fear of others

Fear of weakness

Fear of being swept away

By unseen hands

And forces greater than

 

There is fear and there are weapons

There are those who take advantage

And there are those who prove their worth

By driving six hundred miles

To murder Mexicans

In a Walmart

 

A Man with Two Hearts

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR

A Man with Two Hearts

 

A man with two faces

Has learned to deceive

A man with two tongues

Cannot be believed

A man of two minds

Remains paralyzed

A man with two hearts

Can never be wise

For his affection follows

His wandering eyes

He cannot be trusted

Nor should be despised

For his love is shallow

With no lasting ties

His fate is sorrow

Be it fall or rise

 

First Nations (Native American Appreciation Day)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: NATIVE AMERICA

First Nations

 

Arapaho Cherokee Standing Rock Sioux

Laid claim to this land before me and you

Apache Hopi Cheyenne Hoh

They planted seeds that we should sow

Comanche Paiute Seminole Cree

If you cannot help then let them be

Lakota Iroquois Navaho Crow

Let the spirits rise and the four winds blow

Mohawk Inuit Huron Osage

Remember all the wars we waged

 

Their numbers followed the buffalo

Twelve million to 235 thousand

From Columbus to near extinction

There are no sides to genocide

 

But the buffalo is still alive

Along with Turtle Island’s tribes

Their way of life is still here

Like the earth mother they hold dear

 

Our first nations are owed a debt

We cannot rest until it’s met

So give respect and give again

What is the price of original sin?

 

(Today is Native American Appreciation Day)

 

 

Finding Gratitude

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  GRATITUDE

Finding Gratitude

 

If there is no hunger where you live

Be grateful to the earth that gives

If you’re not exposed to a wind that roams

Be grateful for your sturdy home

If you have friends and ones you love

Be grateful to the stars above

If you smile and laugh in ample measure

Be thankful for the simple pleasure

If you have a warm family circle

Be grateful for the ties that bind

If you’re blessed with common courtesy

Be grateful for a world that’s kind

 

No matter what and where we are

We can always be grateful

We should thank our lucky stars

We have not become hateful

 

For there is love in all things

And there are those who care

And the one above does not

Give us troubles we can’t bear

 

Hard times tell us what really matters

Lesser things will fall and scatter

 

(Happy Thanksgiving to all!)

Abyssinia (Ethiopia)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  END TIMES

Abyssinia (Ethiopia)

 

A scourge has come to Abyssinia

Rebellion on the plains of Eritrea

An explosion of deadly virus

A plague of locusts

A swarming mass of refugees

On the border of Sudan

On the horn of Africa

The birthplace of modern man

Become a place of misery

Surrounded on all sides by war

Hunger famine hopelessness

A land of genocide and hate

A land ravaged by drought

Where failing crops are consumed

By hordes of hungry insects

 

An ancient timeless land

Where the four powers of the earth

Converged in times forgotten

Where the world’s enduring religions

Collided in blood and fire

Where legends sprang from the well

Of a long lost land of sorrow

A land become forsaken

 

The Swedish Experiment

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

The Swedish Experiment

 

It was never herd immunity

But something like

They did not ignore the virus

But they hid it from sight

 

At first there was promise

We held out for hope

When it turned for the worse

They could no longer cope

 

So they’ve locked down the nation

They will let no one in

They are searching their hearts

For a new way to begin

 

Too many have died

There can be no doubt

Now they must find

Another way out

 

If there is a lesson

Perhaps it is this: 

You can’t fight a virus

With hope and a wish